Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Direttore
Massimiliano Taveggia
Servizio Sviluppo e Monitoraggio
del Turismo
Sergio Daneluzzi
Milan
Progetto grafico
Alessandro Gandini, Milka Gandini
Gandini&Rendina grafica e pubblicit srl
Impaginazione e digitalizzazione
Gandini&Rendina grafica e pubblicit srl
Icone e mappe
Gandini&Rendina grafica e pubblicit srl
Copertina
Comune di Milano
Crediti fotografici
Arcidiocesi di Milano; Mauro Colella;
Comune di Milano (Galleria dArte Moderna,
Biblioteca Comunale Centrale Palazzo
Sormani); R. Longoni; Giorgio Majno;
Franco Mascolo; Museo Poldi Pezzoli;
Navigli Lombardi s.c.a.r.l.; Andrea Scuratti;
Vclav ed; Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana;
VRWAY Communication - Giuseppe Pennisi
PLACES TO VISIT
CONTENTS
Libraries
Historic Attractions
Squares
Religious Buildings
City Gates
Sports Amenities
Scenic Spots
Monuments of Antiquity
Exhibition spaces
Museums
Villas
Stately Buildings
CONTENTS
Libraries
Religious Buildings
Duomo
Historic Attractions
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Ca Granda Universit degli Studi di Milano
Castello Sforzesco
Universit Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Stazione Centrale
Cimitero Monumentale
San Sigismondo
(Cortile della Canonica di SantAmbrogio)
San Vittore al Corpo
San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore
Santa Maria delle Grazie
San Lorenzo Maggiore
SantEustorgio
Abbazia di Chiaravalle
Certosa di Garegnano
CONTENTS
Sports Amenities
Museums
Arena Civica
Lido di Milano
Monuments of Antiquity
Remains of the Roman theatre (Piazza degli Affari)
Remains of the Roman Forum (Piazza San Sepolcro)
San Vittore al Corpo
Palazzo Imperiale
San Lorenzo Maggiore
Colonne di San Lorenzo
SantEustorgio
Anfiteatro & Antiquarium Alda Levi
CONTENTS
Navigli Canals
Naviglio Pavese
Naviglio Grande
Palazzina Liberty
Naviglio Martesana
Stately Buildings
Arengario - Museo del Novecento
Palazzo Reale
Palazzo della Veneranda Fabbrica
Palazzo Marino
Palazzo Brentani
Palazzo Anguissola
Squares
Piazza Cordusio
Palazzo Arcivescovile
Torre Velasca
Piazza SantAlessandro
Palazzo dellArte
Palazzo Sormani-Andreani
Palazzo Litta
Palazzo delle Stelline
Grattacielo Pirelli
Palazzina Liberty
Universit Luigi Bocconi
Casa di riposo per musicisti Giuseppe Verdi
Palazzo Lombardia
Palazzo di Brera Pinacoteca
Palazzo del Senato
City Gates
Archi di Porta Nuova
Arco della Pace
Porta Romana
Porta Ticinese Medievale
Porta Garibaldi
Caselli di Porta Venezia
Porta Ticinese
CONTENTS
Scenic Spots
Duomo
Torre Branca
Grattacielo Pirelli
Palazzo Lombardia
Exhibition Spaces
Palazzo Reale
Palazzo Brentani
Palazzo Anguissola
Castello Sforzesco
Palazzo dellArte
Palazzina Liberty
Villas
Villa Reale Galleria dArte Moderna
Villa Necchi Campiglio
Villa Litta Modignani
Villa Clerici
Opposite the cathedral is the Galli & Rosa Building (7) (1873), more
commonly known as Palazzo Carminati. Mengoni who tragically fell to
his death from the scaffolding on the Gallery in 1877 envisaged another
building here which would have reduced the depth of the square.
The Monument to Victor Emmanuel II (8), aligned with the main cathedral door, was created by sculptor Ercole Rosa in 1878 but not brought
here until 1896. This large bronze equestrian statue represents the king
at the Battle of San Martino during the Risorgimento; the reliefs on the
plinth show Franco-Piedmontese troops entering the city in 1859.
The parvis and the paving of the square are by the architect Piero
Portaluppi (1926-29).
Duomo
Milan Cathedral is the monumental symbol of the city. Construction
began in 1386 on the site of the ancient basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore,
by order of Bishop Antonio da Saluzzo and Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
The complexity of the architectural structure, its exceptional size (158
metres long, 93 metres wide at the transept), the wealth of sculptural
detail (over 3,400 statues, 135 spires, 52 polystyle pillars with monumental
capitals), the use of prized Candoglia marble (quarried near Lake Maggiore
and brought here by canal) and the prolonged and chequered history of
its construction make it one of the most significant expressions of late
Gothic culture.
The first part to be completed was the apse; its magnificent stainedglass windows were created in the early 15th century. In the late 1400s
engineers Amadeo and Dolcebuono completed the lantern, to which
Francesco Croce added the main spire (1765-69), crowned in 1774 by the
celebrated Madonnina, the gilt copper statue of the Virgin Mary which
stands 108.5 metres off the ground. The faade, eventually completed in
the early 19th century by order of Napoleon Bonaparte, was designed by
Giuseppe Zanoja and Carlo Amati, who retained the 17th-century doorways and added Neo-Gothic buttresses topped by spires. The Latin-cross
interior has a central nave with four side aisles and a three-aisled transept,
a deep presbytery with ambulatory, polygonal apse and two rectangular
sacristies.
In the crypt are the Burial Chapel of Saint Charles and the Cathedral
Treasury. A doorway on the inside of the main faade leads down to the
Paleo-Christian archaeological excavations (4th century).
The dome over the so-called Octagon, the point where the four
arms meet at the centre, measures 39 metres across. The mosaic paving
beneath it is decorated with the crests of the House of Savoy and of the
four cities that served as the capitals of the Kingdom of Italy (Milan, Turin,
Florence and Rome).
Via Marconi, 1
The right-hand building adjoins the Palace of the South Arcade; the
one on the left, which has its own monumental flight of steps, was built
after the demolition of the long wing of the Royal Palace.
Since 2010 it has housed the Museum of the 20th Century, with
rooms displaying works spanning the 1900s in their entirety, from Futurism to Arte Povera. A large spiral staircase connects the underground
station entrance with the panoramic terrace overlooking the square.
Palazzo Reale
The Royal Palace, now a museum and exhibition venue, stands on
the site occupied at the time of the medieval communes by the Broletto
Vecchio, the first seat of civil power.
Under seigneurial rule the building became the residence of the Visconti family, and in 1330 Azzone Visconti had the palace rebuilt around
two courtyards, one of which survives. In 1467 the ducal court moved
to the Sforza Castle. The palace became the seat of the ruling Spanish
powers in 1535 and of the Austrian authorities in 1707.
Veneranda Fabbrica
e Museo del Duomo
Palazzo
Museo del Duomo
The building is home to the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, the venerable institution founded by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1387 and charged
with the task of raising the funds needed for the design, construction and
upkeep of the new cathedral.
To this day the Fabbrica is kept busy maintaining and restoring the
great edifice as well as running the Historical Archive, which brings together documents regarding the construction process and related artistic
developments, the Music Chapel, which has provided the music for the
cathedrals religious services since 1402, and the Cathedral Museum
(2), in the left-hand wing of Royal Palace, which displays a collection of
sculptures, drawings, paintings, models, stained glass and sacred vestments
from the cathedral.
tiers of boxes, two galleries and a deep stage. The front of the building has
a portico known as the Carriage Gallery, a rusticated ground-floor level, a
first floor with pilaster strips and paired semi-columns, and a tympanum
adorned with bas-reliefs. The opera house was extensively redesigned
in 2002-04 by Mario Botta, who raised the fly tower and created a new
elliptical structure containing various theatre facilities.
The inaugural opera in 1778 was Antonio Salieris Europa Riconosciuta, a performance of which also marked the reopening in 2004. Since
1951 the opera season has always begun on 7th December, the day Milan
celebrates its patron Saint Ambrose.
The Opera House Museum (6) presents a wide range of items relating
to the activities of the opera house.
Palazzo Marino
The origins of the palace, now Milans City Hall, date back to 1553,
when Genoese banker Tommaso Marino took over a large central area of
the city to build himself a sumptuous residence.
Galeazzo Alessi designed the building and in 1572 completed the side
overlooking Piazza San Fedele, using Michelangelo-style elements such
as broken tympana in a system of columns, pillars and pilaster strips with
herms in three distinct tiers. The building remained unfinished until 1872,
the year in which the municipal authorities began the reconstruction of
the faade on Piazza della Scala, designed by Luca Beltrami.
The two main features of this palace, which occupies an entire block,
are the Courtyard of Honour and the Alessi Chamber. The Court-yard
portico has paired Tuscan columns and a loggia; it elaborately decorated
with a wealth of sculptural elements in an ultra-ornate Mannerist style;
refurbishment of the Alessi Chamber in 2002 recreated the 16th-century
appearance of the hall, destroyed in 1943.
Via Manzoni, 6
Palazzo Brentani
Built for the Brentani family in the 18th century, Palazzo Brentani
was subjected to a Neo-Classical restyling between 1829 and 1831.
The new owner, Count Greppi, appointed the architect Luigi Canonica,
who covered the baroque brick front with the present faade on three
storeys with a rusticated basement, framed windows and busts of illustrious figures in medallions. These include Leonardo da Vinci, Canova,
Parini, Beccaria and Volta.
On 4 August 1848, following the defeat at Custoza, Carlo Alberto appeared on the central balcony to placate a crowd in revolt and narrowly
escaped a rifle shot.
After being acquired by the Banca Nazionale (1862), the Palazzo then
passed to the City authorities and finally to the Banca Commerciale Italiana (1914), which converted the interiors to offices to a project by Giuseppe
de Finetti (1934-36).
Today, Palazzo Brentani and the adjacent Palazzo Anguissola house the
19th-century section of the Gallerie dItalia-Piazza Scala, a new Milanese
exhibition centre designed by the architect Michele De Lucchi.
Via Manzoni, 10
Palazzo Anguissola
This refined example of a Neo-Classical mansion was built by Carlo
Felice Soave between 1775 and 1778 for Count Antonio Anguissola. The
Ticino architect transformed an existing construction and added an inner
garden with large niches, ornamental vases and fountains.
In 1817, the lawyer Giovanni Battista Traversi became its new owner
and asked Luigi Canonica to refurbish it once again. Four constructions
were built on the Via Manzoni side, arranged around an elegant square
courtyard with rounded corners in the Doric order.
The buildings that today overlook what remains of the medieval square
are mostly remodelled: the housing built in 1873 in place of the Residenza del Podest (2); the Neo-Gothic Palazzo della Banca Popolare
di Lodi (3), built in 1872 by G. B. Sormani; the Loggia degli Osii (4),
commissioned by Matteo Visconti in 1316 and restored by G. B. Borsari
and A. Savoldi in 1904, with the famous Parlera, the balcony from which
decrees and sentences were read out; the Scuole Palatine (5), built by
Carlo Buzzi in 1644-45; and the Casa dei Panigarola (6), the home of
a family of notaries, radically modified by Luca Beltramis restoration of
1899. The 16th-century well (7) in the centre of the square replaced the
Pietra dei Falliti, the stone on which offenders were exposed to public
ridicule and abuse.
The front of the building has a portico with paired columns supporting rounded arches. The windows under the entablature and cornice are
flanked by classical herms.
The statue of St. Ambrose Giving a Blessing beneath the clock tower
is by Luigi Scorzini (1833).
The elaborate relief work is inspired by nearby Palazzo Marino, designed by Galeazzo Alessi.
Piazza Cordusio
Palazzo delle
Assicurazioni Generali
Casa Dario-Biandr
Palazzo del Credito
Italiano
Magazzini Contratti
Palazzo della Borsa
Statua di Giuseppe
Parini
Piazza Cordusio
Piazza Cordusio
Often referred to simply as Cordusio (from Curia Ducis, a Longobard
term indicating the presence of an ancient ducal court), this elliptical piazza is one of Milans showpiece squares: the very heart of the business
district of the city that has been Italys financial and commercial capital
since unification.
It was laid out between 1889 and 1901. Several main thoroughfares
meet here, one of them being the new Via Dante completed in 1890 under the Development Plan drawn up by engineer Cesare Beruto. Piazza
Cordusio is the hub of two sequences of public spaces created in the late
19th century: one running from the Sempione Park to the Sforza Castle
and along Via Dante, the other leading off in the opposite direction along
Via dei Mercanti to Piazza Duomo and the Victor Emmanuel II Gallery.
columns, with high-reliefs and statues at the base and above the entablature (allegorical representations of the Four Elements, by Leone Lodi
and Geminiano Cibau).
The square is dominated by Palazzo della Borsa, the Milan Stock Exchange (previously located in Piazza Cordusio). The building, built between
1929 and 1932, is also known as Palazzo Mezzanotte after its architect,
whose inspiration for this austere, monumental edifice was classical Rome.
The travertine front of the 36-metre-high building features four huge
Inside the building, the main Trading Hall (where verbal bids and offers
were made using the open outcry method) is a huge plaza-style space
with a glazed roof. Remains of a 1st-century Roman amphitheatre can
be seen beneath the building.
Piazza SantAlessandro
SantAlessandro
Scuole arcimbolde
Palazzo Trivulzio
Piazza SantAlessandro
Piazza SantAlessandro
The complex of SantAlessandro (1) dates back to 1590, when the
Barnabites bought a large section of the city centre to construct a new
church and a college. Work began in 1602, with the laying of the foundation stone by Cardinal Federigo Borromeo. The design is by Barnabite
Lorenzo Binago: inspired by the work done by Bramante and Michelangelo
for St. Peters Basilica in Rome he adopted the plan of a Greek cross set inside a square. After Binagos death in 1629, the construction site was taken
over by Francesco Maria Richini, who created the apsed presbytery. The
interior, with central nave and two side aisles, features five hemispherical
domes, the central one of which, held up on a large drum with windows,
was built by Giuseppe Quadrio in 1693. The faade, set between two lofty
bell towers, has a lower section decorated with Corinthian columns and
pilasters, and an upper section (1710), whose curving contours exemplify
the Lombard barocchetto style.
The interior is small and yet manages to exude a classical monumentality: it takes the form of a three-armed cross and features a barrel-vaulted
ceiling, pillars and rounded arches. One of the most remarkable aspects of
the interior is the magnificent choir: an architectural trompe loeil based
on the pictorial principle of foreshortening to create the illusion of a
fourth arm, which could not be built because of the street (Via Falcone)
running behind the church. The octagonal sacristy (1483) is Bramantesque,
but was altered in the 19th century. The faade, begun by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo in the late 15th century, was entirely rebuilt in 1871.
Since 1937 it has been home to the National Centre for Manzoni Studies, which in the 1960s promoted the restoration of the master apartment, now the Manzoni Museum. The ground-floor study and bedroom,
still with their original furnishings, contain some 3,000 books belonging
to the writer. Rare editions of Manzonis works are exhibited to the public in the upstairs gallery. On display elsewhere in the house are family
portraits and paintings, signed documents, correspondence and other
Manzoni memorabilia.
Corso Italia, 37
The museum opened in 1881, two years after the death of its founder
and in accordance with the terms of his will. It was badly damaged in the
air raid attacks of 1943, but after careful restoration reopened to the public in 1951. The magnificent collection includes masterpieces by Pollaiolo,
Botticelli, Giovanni Bellini, Mantegna, Piero della Francesca, Tiepolo and
Guardi, along with some 3,000 other items (glassware, porcelain, weaponry, carpets, tapestries and timepieces).
Palazzo dellAmbrosiana
Biblioteca & Pinacoteca
Constructed on the site of the ancient Roman forum, this building
houses one of Milans most important cultural institutions: the Ambrosiana Library and Art Gallery.
It was founded in the early 16th century by Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, who wished to create a large public library that could accommodate the remarkable collection of printed texts, manuscripts and codices
brought by his emissaries from Europe and the Orient.
The original core, accessible from what is now Piazza San Sepolcro,
was begun in 1603 by Lelio Buzzi and Francesco Maria Richini, and is
dominated by the Sala Federiciana, a monumental reading room. Around
1611, the founder ordered the construction of a new building to house an
art academy and a gallery of paintings, and his own personal collection
was moved there in 1618.
This became the core of the Pinacoteca, which today boasts an extraordinary collection of works by such masters as Botticelli, Leonardo da
Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and Brueghel. Additional space became
necessary as subsequent purchases and bequests were made, and in the
19th century the section facing onto Piazza Pio XI was created, along with
the grand Neo-Classical courtyard (turned into a reading room by Ambrogio Annoni in 1923). Following air-raid damage in 1943, the building
was restored and refurbished, most recently in 1997.
The library contains some extremely rare items, including Petrarchs
Virgil illuminated by Simone Martini, Leonardo da Vincis Codex Atlanticus
and ancient Syriac versions of the Bible.
The building is also the home of the Accademia Ambrosiana.
Piazza Fontana, 2
Palazzo Arcivescovile
Milan has had a bishops palace since late Antiquity. This edifice, built
along the original Roman walls, formed part of the ancient episcopal
complex. Rebuilt after the destruction wrought by Barbarossa (1162-74)
it was transformed again in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, as the
remains of windows still visible on the side facing the Cathedral show.
Between 1569 and 1604 the grand courtyard was designed by Pellegrino
Tibaldi for the cathedral canons, with rusticated loggias on two levels.
Piazza Velasca, 5
Torre Velasca
A symbol of Italian post-war architecture, the Velasca Tower is a
prominent feature of the Milan skyline: a monumental tower block with
a deliberately top-heavy design that is immediately recognisable when it
appears in the background.
The 106-metre-high building, erected by Studio BBPR between 1951
and 1958, marks a departure from traditional modern skyscraper design
by making a figurative reference to the medieval tower and borrowing
from the architectural styles of the past. The structural grid system that
covers the entire building is the work of Arturo Danusso: the vertical ribs
on the lower section turn into outward-angled brackets under-propping
the larger volume above: a reinforced concrete support system that is a
characteristic feature of the overall design. The upper section is residential; the stalk that holds it up houses offices and professional studios.
The name recalls one of the Spanish governors of the Duchy of Milan,
Juan de Velasco, to whom the site on which the tower now stands was
dedicated.
Ca Granda
Cortile dei Bagni
Cortile della Farmacia
Cortile della Ghiacciaia
Cortile della Legnaia
Chiesa di S. Maria
Annunciata
Aula Magna
Ca Granda
Universit degli Studi di Milano
Originally Milans central hospital, Ca Granda (or Big House in dialect) has been the home of Milan State University since 1958 and is
one of the citys largest and most interesting monumental complexes.
Founded on 12 April 1456 by Francesco Sforza, it took the place of a
number of small hospitals and holy places within the city walls. It is the
work of Tuscan architect Antonio Averlino (better known as Il Filarete),
whose novel layout is based on two crosses set inside squares, each creating four courts. The work was continued by Guiniforte Solari (1465-81),
who completed the brickwork portico along Via Festa del Perdono with
round arches and pointed paired windows above and the Baths (1) and
Pharmacy (2) courtyards (1467-73) with double loggias; the so-called
Ice Store (3) and Wood Store (4) courtyards date back to 1486-88.
The south cross, originally used in the Sforza age as a hospital ward,
is now occupied by a library; the late 18th-century north cross contains
lecture rooms, with elegant entrances on several levels; in the early 17th
century Francesco Maria Richini created the large central porticoed courtyard (leading to the church of Santa Maria Annunciata (5)) and completed the main faade, with brickwork paired windows inside rounded
arches and a Baroque entrance. The faade ends at the Neo-Classical wing,
which has a dark red plasterwork finish.
Damaged during the 1943 air raids, the complex was restored from
1953 by Liliana Grassi and Piero Portaluppi, who reconstructed the demolished sections, restored the two crossings and built the new north
wing and Aula Magna (6), the Main Assembly Hall.
When Via Mazzini was laid out in 1879, the aisles were shortened and
the faade set back. What remains of the Romanesque apse has stood in
the middle of the road since 1949, when the church was all but demolished to make way for another new thoroughfare. The Romanesque crypt,
divided into seven cross-vaulted aisles, is accessed from this isolated ruin.
The faade has been recreated on the Waldensian church in Via Francesco
Sforza.
Via Rovello, 2
In 1786 the city authorities moved into the building and renamed
it Broletto Nuovissimo to distinguish it from the earlier seat in Piazza
Mercanti.
Since 1947 the left-hand wing of the complex has housed the Piccolo Teatro, Italys first repertory theatre, founded by Giorgio Strehler and
Paolo Grassi. The small auditorium, renovated by architects Rogers and
Zanuso in 1952 and restored in 2008-09, is now dedicated to Paolo Grassi.
The buildings that now line the square are: to the west the Palazzo
del Toro (1) (1935-1939), by E. Lancia and R. Merendi, incorporating
the Nuovo Theatre and the Toro Gallery; to the north the Snia Viscosa
Complex (2) with the Snia Tower (1935-1937) by A. Rimini (famous as
Milans first ever skyscraper); and to the east a residential, retail and
office building (3) (1939-1948) by G. Ponti, A. Fornaroli, E. Soncini, G.
Casalis, G. De Min and A. Rimini. The southern side was completed later
with a retail and office building (4) (1954-1957) by L. Mattioni.
The Church of San Babila (6), built in the 11th century over the
remains of an earlier place of worship, was remodelled between 1598
and 1610 by A. Trezzi. Between 1881 and 1906 P. Cesa Bianchi restored
its Neo-Romanesque appearance by eliminating the late 16th-century
additions, thereby reviving its pure Lombard forms.
Outside the church stands the 17th-century Lion Column (7), which
bears the emblem of the Porta Orientale district.
On the ground floor are plaster casts, statues, bronzes, wax models and
polychrome terracotta items; in the basement are watercolours, pencil
and pastel crayon drawings and lithographs.
Works include Portraits of Pietro Marussig (1929) and of Salvatore
Quasimodo (1937), gilt bronze models for the monument to Pius XII in
St. Peters in Rome (1963) and a Portrait of Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster
(1941).
Via SantAndrea, 6
The downstairs spaces are now used for fashion and lifestyle exhibitions. On the first floor is an art gallery and the so-called monumental
apartment, filled with a collection of remarkable ancient garments from
the Sforza Castles costume collection. The paintings, mostly from the
Luigi Beretta collection, document the history of the city from the 17th
to 19th centuries and offer an intriguing glimpse of various locations
and buildings that no longer exist. The richly decorated rooms of the
apartment are filled with furnishings, paintings, porcelain and a range of
household items.
Via Verziere, 2
The original auditorium had a large dome-shaped glass and iron skylight and was a cross between an Italian-style theatre with a horseshoe of
galleries for the audience and a circus-style arena. Following the damage
caused by bombing in 1943, the theatre was extensively redesigned and
a new roof added.
It re-opened in 2001 after a lengthy restoration process, now with a
new main auditorium seating 1,400, a second 200-seat hall and a choir
hall on the top floor under the new copper roof.
The use of shed roofs for the services volumes and brass fittings inside
create a factory-like effect and convey the idea of a popular theatre.
The Piccolo Teatro Studio Expo (2) was created inside the old Teatro Fossati, a theatre built during the Risorgimento by Fermo Zuccari
(1858-59). The new interior (1984-87) was also designed by Zanuso and
Crescini, who retained Andrea Bonis ornate terracotta faades on Corso
Garibaldi and Via Rivoli. The new space, used as an actors studio and for
experimental theatrical productions, takes the form of a horseshoe-shaped
brickwork auditorium that lends itself to productions of different kinds,
with no clear distinction between stage and audience. It is surrounded by
an interesting system of railinged galleries a reference to the appearance
of Milans traditional popular housing blocks.
San Simpliciano
According to tradition, the ancient Basilica Virginum was founded on
the road to Como outside the walls by Saint Ambrose, and completed by
his successor Simplicianus, after whom it was then named.
One of the most important early Christian complexes in the city,
the original building (possibly inspired by the Basilica of Constantine in
Trier) had a nave with apse and transept. A portico ran along the front of
the church and down the sides (where chapels now stand) as far as the
transept.
The large hall probably acquired its side aisles in Longobard times (7th
century). Romanesque features added in the 11th-12th centuries include
the vaulted ceiling (in place of the original wooden beams), a new apse,
pillars dividing the transept into two parts, the crossing tower, the main
entrance and the bell tower. The 19th-century paintwork on the walls,
ceilings and pillars was removed during restoration in the 20th century.
The Neo-Romanesque faade (1870) is by Maciachini. The grand apse
fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin (1515) is by Bergognone.
Via Borgonuovo, 23
Palazzo Moriggia
Museo del Risorgimento
An early example of the Milan Neo-Classical style, built in 1775, the
palace was designed by Giuseppe Piermarini for the marquis Giovanni
Battista Moriggia.
Built over an existing complex belonging to the monastic order of the
Humiliati Friars and facing onto the aristocratic Via Borgonuovo (known
in earlier times as the Contrada de Nobili), it has a three-storey street
front with a central section decorated with Doric and Ionic pilaster strips
on the lower and upper sections respectively. The entrance, which opens
Piazza Cavour
Castello Sforzesco
Piazza darmi
Corte Ducale
Rocchetta
Ponticella
Piazza Castello
Castello Sforzesco
The castle, an imposing symbol of Milan under the Sforza dynasty, is
the most monumental vestige of the citys ancient defence system. The
original core, built by Galeazzo II Visconti between 1358 and 1368, was a
fortification designed to defend Porta Giovia, a medieval gateway.
Enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries, the castle was rebuilt after
the Ambrosian Republic interlude (1447-50) by Francesco Sforza (145066) as a square fortress with four towers at the corners. Architect Antonio
Filarete, who devised the idea of a main front facing the city with a central
tower (the original collapsed in an explosion in 1521), was succeeded by
Bartolomeo Gadio, who completed the two large round, rusticated towers.
After the death of Francesco Sforza the castle became a ducal residence:
Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1466-76), Gian Galeazzo Sforza (1476-94) and
Ludovico il Moro (1494-99) all held a dazzling court here. Leading artists
of the day such as Bramante and Leonardo da Vinci worked on the main
parts of the castle, including Piazza dArmi (1) (the parade ground), the
Ducal Courtyard (2) (with the so-called Elephant Portico), the Rocchetta
(3) (a defence citadel around an arcaded court) and the Ponticella (4)
(the bridge connecting to the Ghirlanda defence walls).
Used as a barracks under Spanish (1535-1706) and Austrian (1706-96)
rule, it suffered substantial damage in the Napoleonic age and was not
restored until 1904, when Luca Beltrami rebuilt the Filarete Tower and
carried out other work to restore the original appearance of the castle
complex, which today houses the Civic Museums.
Arena Civica
Designed by Luigi Canonica as part of a monumental city redevelopment programme, the arena was built in 1806 using materials salvaged
from the demolished castle fortifications.
The elliptical amphitheatre, which measures 238 by 116 metres and
could originally hold 30,000 people, was once used for grand public displays, including the famous naumachie (re-enactments of naval battles
for which the central space was filled with water).
Acquario Civico
The Civic Aquarium, built on the edge of Sempione Park by Sebastiano
Locati, is the only surviving building of those constructed for the World
Expo of 1906 in Milan.
Now also housing a marine biology station and largely rebuilt after
World War II, it is one of the most exquisite examples of liberty architecture in Milan, with elaborate art nouveau designs featuring majolica tiles
decorated with aquatic-themed motifs. In pride of place over the entrance
is a statue of the sea-god Neptune, sculpted by Oreste Lab.
Palazzo dellArte
Palazzo
Bagni Misteriosi
Palazzo dellArte
The Palazzo dellArte (1) was built by Giovanni Muzio between 1931
and 1933 thanks to a bequest by senator Antonio Bernocchi, who wished
to create a permanent home for the Triennale International Exhibitions
of the Decorative Arts previously held in Villa Reale in Monza.
The building, positioned on the opposite side of the park from the Arena, midway between the Sforza Castle and the Arch of Peace, houses the
Fondazione La Triennale di Milano, an Italian institution for architecture,
urban planning, design, decorative and visual arts and crafts, fashion, and
industrial and audio-visual production.
The floor-plan is rectangular and terminates in an apse-like structure.
The long sides have an entrance porch facing Viale Alemagna and a portico overlooking the park, the backdrop to Giorgio De Chiricos painted
sculpture Bagni Misteriosi (2) (1973).
Torre Branca
In 1932 Milans city authorities commissioned Gio Ponti to design a
tower that would stand next to the new Palazzo dellArte.
Originally called Torre Littoria and then Torre del Parco, it was closed
in 1972 but reopened to the public in 2002 after being restored and made
accessible by the Milan-based Fratelli Branca liquor distillery.
Piazza Sempione
Via Palestro, 16
The side facing onto the garden is more elaborate, with Ionic columns
and corner pilasters on a rusticated base and two protruding side blocks
topped by tympana. The faades are adorned with bas-reliefs depicting
mythological scenes in an iconographical scheme devised by the poet
Giuseppe Parini.
The garden (1790-93), the first in Milan designed in the English style,
features an ornamental lake, a wooded area, a botanical trail and various sculptures. The villa itself houses the Civic Modern Art Gallery,
which boasts an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures from
the Neo-Classical age to the 20th century, including the Grassi Collection
of works by 19th and 20th century Italian and foreign artists, and the
Vismara Collection, with paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Morandi
and Sironi.
Via Palestro, 14
a sculpture hall) with a large glass wall looking out onto the park; and
an upper gallery, accessed by an elegant staircase in reinforced concrete
near the entrance.
Corso Venezia, 55
with its research activities, it is one of the most important natural history
museums in Italy.
There are five permanent exhibitions: mineralogy, palaeontology, human natural history, invertebrate zoology and vertebrate zoology. Of particular interest are the reconstruction of a tyrannosaurus and the many
ecology and fauna dioramas.
The building is Neo-Romanesque in style, with much use made of
ornamental terracotta and ironwork structures.
Via Ges, 5
The two courtyards have a Madonna and Child with Saints attributed
to Bonino da Campione (14th century) and a bas-relief of the Madonna
Protecting the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore (15th century).
In the late 19th century, noblemen Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi decided to construct a house along the lines of the noble residences
of 16th-century Lombardy. The two brothers, who were directly involved
in its design, furnished every room with Renaissance artefacts, so that all
parts of the house not only the main rooms, should have an ancient
feel, with everything contributing harmoniously to the overall effect.
Via Mozart, 14
Set in a large garden with swimming-pool and tennis court, the main
house comprises a series of ground-floor reception rooms, from which
a grand staircase leads up to the master bedrooms. Among the lavish
decorations, exquisite furnishings and elegant ornaments are a number of proto-rationalist architectural features including a large corner
bow-window thanks to which the building ranks as a remarkable example of the transition from traditional to modern home design.
The villa also contains two major art bequests: the Claudia Gian Ferrari
Collection and the De Micheli Collection.
Corso Venezia, 57
Via Conservatorio, 12
Palazzo Sormani-Andreani
One of the most prestigious noble residences in Milan, this palace was
built in the early 17th century for Cardinal Cesare Monti and enlarged
and remodelled in 1736 by Francesco Croce.
The outside is plain brick, with arches over pilaster strips and large
windows; the portico on the inside forms a continuous raised walkway
comprising four main exedrae alternating with four smaller ones with
paired columns.
When the cemetery closed at the end of the 18th century, various
plans for its use were drawn up, none of which ever came to fruition,
including one by Luigi Cagnola and Simone Cantoni (1809) to turn the
Rotunda into a Pantheon of the Italic Kingdom, which would have been
the burial place of illustrious figures.
Porta Romana
This is the only surviving gateway of ten in the Spanish walls (the
third set to encircle the city after the Roman and medieval walls) built
between 1548 and 1560 for governor Ferrante Gonzaga and demolished
following the approval of the development plan of 1884.
This so-called Roman Gateway, designed by Aurelio Trezzi, was built
in 1598 to mark the visit to Milan of Margaret of Austria, who was betrothed to Philip III of Spain.
Inspired by the imperial arches of ancient Rome, it was the first gateway in the defence system created for celebratory purposes.
The side facing away from the city, which recalls the architecture of
Sanmicheli in the Veneto, blends Doric and rusticated features: the two
pairs of columns framing the arch appear as a column of chunky blocks
holding up the elaborate entablature, the frieze of which has alternating
triglyphs and metopes decorated with bas reliefs. The two small side arches have now been bricked up. The panel on the gateways upper section
bears the now barely visible dedicatory inscription.
SantAmbrogio
Basilica di SantAmbrogio
Cortile della canonica
Universit Cattolica
del Sacro Cuore
Piazza SantAmbrogio, 15
SantAmbrogio
The ancient Basilica Martyrum, built by Saint Ambrose between 379
and 386 on the site of a cemetery outside Porta Vercellina, became the
burial place of Sts. Gervase and Protase and of St. Ambrose himself (397).
In 789, a Benedictine monastery was established here.
The original structure, with central nave (separated from the two side
aisles by columns) and a single apse, was profoundly transformed by
changes made between the 9th and 12th centuries. Although the current
appearance is to a large extent the result of 19th-century restoration
work, the basilica can still be considered the foremost expression of the
Lombard Romanesque style. The nave is made up of four square bays, the
first three with ribbed cross-vaulting, the last topped by an octagonal
dome, concealed on the outside by the lantern.
For each main bay there are two smaller bays in the side aisles, with
cross-vaulting and matronea; the arrangement creates an interesting
sequence of alternating polystyle pillars of two different sizes.
The churchs treasures include a 9th-century Ciborium, the Golden
Altar (a masterpiece from the Carolingian age, 835 ca.) and the Sacello
di San Vittore in Ciel dOro, a chapel with a hemi-spherical gold mosaic-clad dome (5th century).
The large atrium outside the basilica is a rectangular quadriporticus
(11th century) with polystyle pillars and double-archivolt arches. One side
forms part of the church faade, whose upper section is a loggia with
arched openings under a pointed roof. The bell tower on the right is the
so-called Monks Tower (9th century); the Canons Tower on the left (12th
century) was completed in 1889.
SantAmbrogio
Basilica di SantAmbrogio
Cortile della canonica
Universit Cattolica
del Sacro Cuore
Piazza SantAmbrogio, 15
SantAmbrogio
Basilica di SantAmbrogio
Cortile della canonica
Universit Cattolica
del Sacro Cuore
in the opposite direction to its medieval predecessor. It has a main barrel-vaulted nave with side aisles divided off by pillars, a high dome and
apsed presbytery. The incomplete faade has a lower row of Corinthian
pilaster strips which were to have aligned with the portico that was never
built, and a large semi-circular window above. The former Monastery of
San Vittore, which now houses the National Museum of Science and
Technology (2), is organised around two large square cloisters built between 1553 and 1587 with design contributions from Seregni and Alessi.
Remains of the fortified Imperial Mausoleum are visible in the cloisters.
The monastery was suppressed in 1804 and used until 1940 as a military
hospital, then as a barracks. Heavily damaged by bombing in World War
II, it was restored by Piero Portaluppi and Ferdinando Reggiori (1949-53),
who redesigned the surviving parts as museum spaces.
It comprises various permanent displays, temporary exhibitions, workshops and interactive areas. In other large halls the history of rail, air and
sea transport is traced with actual locomotives, aircraft and sea vessels,
including the two-masted, 50-metre-long Ebe training ship. The famous
Enrico Toti submarine has been displayed outside the railway hall since
2005.
The museums Leonardo da Vinci Gallery houses a noteworthy collection of accurately reconstructed wooden models of machinery designed
by Leonardo the scientist and inventor.
Via Brisa
Palazzo Imperiale
This archaeological site consists of the foundations of various
rooms with apses arranged around a circular space that were part of a
3rd/4th-century complex belonging to the citys imperial palace, which
was directly connected to the nearby circus, the impressive games arena
that stood along the western section of the city walls. The remains are
among the few surviving vestiges of the period in which Mediolanum was
capital of the Western Roman Empire (286-402 AD) and official residence
of the emperor.
Corso Magenta, 15
of pilasters, are ten barrel-vaulted chapels over which is an elegant matroneum with Serlian motif, a popular architectural feature of later years.
The present church, begun in 1503 on the site of the earlier place
of worship, has a single nave and is divided into two distinct areas by a
screen extending up to the large rib-vault ceiling. The first hall, entered
from the street, was where the faithful gathered; the second, connected
to the rest of the convent, was reserved for the nuns and is occupied by a
large 16th-century wooden choir. Along the side walls, with its dual row
The Archaeological Museum, entered through a large Baroque doorway, is divided into five sections: Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Gandhra and
Early Medieval. It has an extensive collection of items and incorporates
sections of the 4th-century city walls, with two late-Roman towers, one
polygonal (the Ansperto Tower), the other square (possibly part of the
carceres of the circus and used as a monastery bell tower).
The walls are decorated with one of the most important fresco cycles
from 16th-century Lombardy, mainly by Bernardino Luini and his followers. The faade (1574-81) was completed in 1896; the eastern side of the
building was redesigned by Angelo Colla (1872).
Corso Magenta, 24
Palazzo Litta
Palazzo Litta was built by Francesco Maria Richini for Bartolomeo
Arese, president of the Milan Senate. Works commenced under Richinis
supervision in 1648 but were halted when Arese died (1674) and not
completed until 1760, with a grand staircase by Carlo Giuseppe Merlo
and a faade by Bartolomeo Bolli. The mansion was renowned in the 18th
century for the magnificent receptions hosted by the family, which had by
then married into the Visconti Borromeo and Litta families. The mansion
takes its present name from the latter.
The building was substantially altered in the late 19th century and
again after bombing in 1943.
Corso Magenta, 61
of the 18th century the building was used as a girls orphanage. In 1844
two smaller courtyards were added to the main court.
The complex is now the home of the Stelline Foundation, which runs
congresses and exhibitions. The park adjoining the building is the site of
the famous Leonardo Gardens: vineyards which Ludovico il Moro gave
to Leonardo da Vinci in return for the considerable amount of work he
did for the ducal court.
The changes made in the 19th century one of the first reconstructions of an ancient monument in Milan involved the demolition of
houses abutting the structure and the creation of two side passages with
pointed arches; the crenellations added by Boito are no more than a picturesque medieval fantasy.
The tabernacle above the central arch on the outside of the gate features reliefs from the workshop of Giovanni di Balduccio depicting an
Enthroned Madonna and Child, St. Ambrose Kneeling to resent a Model of
the City, St. Lawrence, St. Eustorgius and St. Peter Martyr (14th century).
Piazza SantEustorgio, 1
SantEustorgio
One of the oldest and most illustrious churches in the city, it was
founded either by the 4th-century bishop St. Eustorgius, or more probably
by his successor Eustorgius II in the 6th century.
The Paleo-Christian edifice, traces of which remain under the apse, was
rebuilt twice in the Romanesque style, first towards the end of the 11th
century and later around 1190 after the siege of Barbarossa, who transferred to Cologne the relics of the Three Kings, formerly preserved here.
The basilica was later taken over by the Dominican order (1216-20)
and radically altered between the 13th and 14th centuries, with the construction of the south transept, the main crossings, the noblemens chapels
along the south aisle (although the first three, most notably the Brivio
Chapel, are 15th century) and the bell tower. At this stage it had the
character of a hall church, in which the nave, side aisles and chapels
appear as a single space.
Alterations made in the 17th and 18th centuries were eliminated by
restyling work done in the 19th century, including the faade, restored
by Giovanni Brocca in 1862-65. The most recent alterations (1952-66)
restored the churchs original Lombard-Romanesque forms.
Behind the apse stands the Portinari Chapel, a Milan Renaissance
masterpiece built between 1462 and 1468 for Florentine nobleman Pigello
Portinari. The design is inspired by Brunelleschis Old Sacristy in Florence,
but the stone and brick decorations are in a typical Lombard style.
The interior, which consists of two square domed chambers, is embellished with beautiful frescoes by Vincenzo Foppa (1468) and contains the
Tomb of St. Peter Martyr, by the sculptor Giovanni di Balduccio (1336-39).
Museo Diocesano
The museum is housed in the former Dominican monastery adjoining the Basilica of SantEustorgio; it was built in the 13th century and
remodelled in the early 17th century by Girolamo Sitoni. Its two cloisters
(one with Tuscan columns, the other with paired Ionic columns) were
restored by architect Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso and were opened
to the public in 2001.
The museum boasts some 600 items: paintings, sculptures, vestments
and sacred furnishings from churches in the Ambrosian diocese, covering
a time-span from the 4th to the 19th centuries.
The paintings, many of which came from the Archbishops Palace, provide valuable insights into the cultural leanings of Ambroses successors.
Among the notable collections are the Fondi Oro, panels with gold
backgrounds from 14th/15th-century Tuscany, and the Marcenaro, wooden sculptures from northern Europe, Liguria and central Italy. The Monti,
Pozzobonelli, Visconti and Erba Odescalchi collections feature works by
illustrious Lombard painters.
Stazione Centrale
Milans Central Station, the iconic point of entry into the city for
anyone arriving by train, dominates Piazza Duca dAosta and provides
a backdrop to the northward view along Via Vittor Pisani. This is one of
Europes biggest railway stations and Italys second largest in terms of
numbers of passengers passing through.
The colossal stone edifice, the terminus for a lengthy section of elevated railway running into the heart of the city, was built by Ulisse Stacchini (1927-31). It combines a variety of eclectic and liberty features with
an austere Roman-style monumentality and is adorned with sculptures
commissioned by the Fascist regime.
The central 215x50-metre front of the building, which is lower at
the two sides, comprises the main covered entrance area, known as the
Galleria delle Carrozze after the horse-drawn carriages that once drew
up there. Inside the immense hall (lit by skylights), grand staircases take
passengers up to the main 25-metre-high concourse and platform area.
Opposite the side leading to the trains are the old waiting rooms, now
used as shops.
The platforms are covered over with five iron and glass arches: the
central arch has a span of 72 metres and is 33.5 metres high. Opposite
platform 21 sadly remembered as the departure point for trains to Nazi
concentration camps is the Royal Pavilion, featuring classical-style architecture.
A major redevelopment project between 2005 and 2010 linked the
Galleria delle Carrozze to the metro station below, and created new moving walkways to connect the new ticketing centre to the main concourse
and the retail outlets.
Grattacielo Pirelli
An undisputed masterpiece of modern Italian architecture, this landmark skyscraper is emblematic of Milans post-war economic boom.
Designed by Gio Ponti, with structural consultancy by Arturo Danusso and
Pier Luigi Nervi, it was built between 1955 and 1960 as the headquarters
of Pirelli Industries.
At a height of 127 metres, it was at the time one of Europes tallest
reinforced concrete buildings, displaying a balance between form and
structure that has yet to be surpassed. With its polygonal oor plan,
similar in shape to a diamond, it soars like a slender blade effortlessly
into the sky.
One room is devoted entirely to the Novecento Italiano, with landscapes, still lifes and portraits, while others feature works by Fontana,
Sironi, Morandi and De Pisis.
The large corner drawing room is given over to artists who lived for
a time in Paris, such as De Chirico, Campigli and Savinio. The last room,
formerly the master bedroom, is devoted to Informal Art and ends with
two large Achrome works by Piero Manzoni.
Palazzina Liberty
Designed in 1908 by architect Alberto Migliorini, this construction was
originally the central hall of the fruit and vegetable market which operated from 1911 to 1965 in an area of over 70,000 square metres that is
now a city park. It contained a caf-restaurant and was a popular meeting
spot as well as the place where traders haggled over prices.
When the market was relocated to Via Lombroso, the structure remained in a state of complete abandonment until 1974, the year in which
it was taken over by Dario Fos theatre company and the space was reorganised for stage performances.
Abbazia di Chiaravalle
The name Chiaravalle comes from Clairvaux, a locality in the French
region of Burgundy where one of the five foundation abbeys of the Cistercian order were built. St. Bernard of Clairvaux founded this abbey complex outside Milan in 1135; construction began between 1150 and 1160.
The church follows the standard Cistercian plan in the shape of a Latin
cross with central nave and two side aisles, transept and rectilinear apse
adjoined by smaller chapels.
Cimitero Monumentale
The creation of Milans monumental cemetery, built by Carlo Maciachini between 1863 and 1866, testifies to the new, more celebrative
approach to funeral proceedings in post-unification Italy. With its characteristic bands of two-tone marble, it is a fascinating example of eclectic
architecture in which aspects of the Pisan Romanesque and Lombard
Gothic styles blend into a single, uniform composition.
Contained within a boundary wall, it features two side galleries which
meet at the central monumental entrance: the Famedio or civic pantheon.
Via Garegnano, 28
Certosa di Garegnano
This Carthusian monastery, founded in 1349 by Giovanni Visconti,
lord and archbishop of Milan, was built outside the ducal park, near the
town of Garegnano.
Work began on the church, the small cloister and part of the large
cloister in 1357, the year in which Petrarch described the monastery as a
nova sed nobilis. The monks cells are organised around the large cloister,
finished between the 15th and 16th centuries but demolished in 1885:
the site is now occupied by a motorway link.
The surviving structures date back to the late 16th century: the entrance leads to a three-lobed courtyard dominated by the faade of the
church (attributed to Vincenzo Seregni and Galeazzo Alessi but not completed until 1608) and by the large arch preceding the courtyard of honour. The single-nave church, with barrel vaulting and two square chapels
near the entrance, is decorated with Daniele Crespis Scenes from the Life
of St. Bruno (1620-29) and with frescoes by Simone Peterzano (1578-82)
in the apse and presbytery.
Viale Affori, 21
Villa Clerici
This villa, which is remarkably large and sumptuous for an out-oftown residence of the time, was designed by Francesco Croce in 1722 for
silk merchant Giorgio Clerici.
It consists of a central block and two side wings terminating in chapels dedicated to St. Theresa and St. Anthony respectively. The central
court is elegantly laid out as an Italian garden, which creates a distinct
break between the road and the actual villa. The huge park at the back is
adorned with groups of sculptures and other eye-catching features set
among the trees.
The villa is entered through a three-arched portico with paired columns; the statues on the corners of the staircase balustrade echo those
of the family palace in the centre of Milan. One of the most attractive
rooms is the Hall of Mirrors, with elegant trompe-loeil paintwork and an
exquisitely decorated coffered ceiling.
Since 1955 the villa has housed the Gallery of Contemporary Religious
Art, which boasts an extensive collection of works on sacred themes by
20th-century artists.
Naviglio Pavese
The Pavia Canal (1), which as its name suggests connects Milan with
the city of Pavia, was not completed until the Napoleonic period. It begins at the canal basin known as the Darsena, under the so-called Trofeo
Bridge. Locks enable it to negotiate differences in level at various points
along its 33-km route, culminating in the visually striking sequence at
the point where the canal flows into the Ticino river.
When the canal opened to navigation in 1819, Milan was finally connected via the Ticino and Po rivers to the Adriatic Sea. This project, which
began in the 15th century with the construction of the Bereguardo
Canal (2) (connecting the Naviglio Grande (3) to the Ticino near Pavia)
and the Martesana Canal (4) (for which Leonardo da Vinci devised a
system of locks to allow the waters of the Adda river to flow into Milans
canal ring), made the city a crossroads between continental Europe and
the Mediterranean.
Today, the banks of the two canals in the navigli district are lined
with a whole host of trading concerns, art and craft workshops, bars and
night clubs, making it one of the most vibrant parts of the city.
The hub of navigli life is the Darsena basin, created in 1603 as an inner city dock. It is fed by the waters of the Naviglio Grande and the Olona
river (now underground) and in turn feeds the Naviglio Pavese. The citys
inner canal ring, which was covered over in 1929-30, also flowed into
this basin through the Viarenna lock (present-day Via Conca del Naviglio).
Naviglio Grande
The Big Canal, as its name translates, has been a navigable waterway
since the 13th century, and is the largest hydraulic engineering project
ever undertaken in Lombardy. It connects the Ticino river with Milan via
the town of Abbiategrasso; a number of noble villas (16th-19th centuries)
stand at various points along its banks.
open storage yards. Marble destined for the cathedral was loaded onto
barges marked with the letters A.U.F. (ad usum fabricae), assuring them
duty-free passage through the excise barriers on their way to the lake of
Santo Stefano (covered over in 1857, but remembered in the name of a
nearby street, Via Laghetto).
A busy trading route in the Visconti and Sforza age, it played a major
role in the construction of the city: the Candoglia marble used for Milan Cathedral, pink Baveno granite and other types of stone (as well as
sand and wood) were brought down from Lake Maggiore and conveyed
along the canal into the city through a system of locks to the circular
canal created out of the moat around the medieval walls. This navigable
ring, completed in the mid-15th century and known (still today) as the
Cerchia dei Navigli, was lined with a whole series of warehouses and
Via Tirano
Naviglio Martesana
Francesco Sforza initiated the construction of the Naviglio Martesana, also called the Naviglio Piccolo, in 1457. The waterway is named
after the area it crosses, where a people known as gens Martecia settled
prior to the year 1000.
Built for the transport of millstones, olive presses, spinning mills and
paper mills, the canal originates at Trezzo sullAdda, northeast of Milan,
only to reach the city approximately 40 km later, linking it to the River
Adda and Lake Como.
Navigable since 1482, Ludovico Sforza inaugurated its connection
to the ring of canals and the Porta Ticinese basin in 1496. Leonardo da
Vinci is said to have worked on the project. Boats arrived in Milan after
a journey lasting seven and a half hours, and returned to Trezzo, towed
by horses, in twelve.
Following works to partially cover it, completed in the 1960s, the
open-air section of the Naviglio Martesana ends at the Cassina de Pomm
in Via Melchiorre Gioia, also the location of what is known as the Bridge
Panfiss, so called because the bridge was once crossed by workers of the
Branca candle factory, who had permanent jobs and guaranteed wages
(pan pane bread and fiss fisso fixed in Italian).
Via Chiese, 2
HangarBicocca
A dynamic cultural space given over to contemporary art, the HangarBicocca is a modern, mixed-purpose venue for visual-arts events and
exhibitions.
The building that originally manufactured coils for electric train engines stands in the former Breda complex and comprises three great
pillared halls that retain their early industrial appearance and can accommodate large-scale installations. One of the halls features the permanent
Seven Celestial Palaces installation (2004) by the artist Anselm Kiefer.
The entrance block, with its series of pitched roofs, contains public
amenities: the HB Kids Room, a multipurpose space and an eatery. In the
garden is Fausto Melottis monumental La Sequence sculpture (1981),
restored and put on permanent display in 2010.
Its constant experimentation, promotion and research activities have
made it an urban hotbed of artistic talent.
Via dellInnovazione, 20
The Stazione delle Ferrovie Nord building dating from 1956 was refurbished with the addition of a curtain wall of panels and square metal
window modules. Another roof, level with the adjacent buildings, further
enriches the design of the faade.
In the centre of the square is the steel and fibreglass Needle, Thread
and Knot (2000) sculpture by the artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van
Bruggen in which a huge needle with multicoloured thread plunges into
the ground, only to re-emerge in the fountain on the roundabout. Paying
homage to Milans industriousness and fashion world, its sinuous forms
also reference the old Visconti family coat-of-arms featuring a serpent.
Founded as a retirement home for struggling musicians and singers, the building was inaugurated in 1902. The architect adopted a severe
Romanesque-revival style that appears to distance itself from the Eclectic
excesses: a faade in unfaced brick with elegant two- and three-light
windows rising above a high plain basement.
Palazzo Lombardia
The large complex is the headquarters of the Lombard Regional
Council and a major chapter in the urban regeneration of the Garibaldi-Repubblica area. It extends over an area of 33,700 m, flanked by Via
Melchiorre Gioia, Via Restelli, Via Galvani and Via Algarotti.
The project was completed between 2007 and 2010 by Pei Cobb Freed &
Partners, Caputo Partnership and Sistema Duemila, giving rise to what has
been defined as a slice of the city consisting in a tower approximately
161 m. tall and four lower, curvilinear buildings.
The tower is one of the tallest in Italy and stands out against the city
skyline as a new icon of Milans regional government. The lower blocks
were inspired by the mountain ridges of Lombardy and their sinuous
Via Brera, 28
Porta Garibaldi
The northern point of access to the city, the gate stands in the middle
of Piazza XXV Aprile and was built by the architect Giacomo Moraglia
between 1826 and 1828.
The gate is built in stone from Viggi, a town in the province of Varese
famous for its fine rock and the two customs houses flanking the gate
were completed six years later (1834).
The site was frequently the scene of uprisings, including the devastating workers revolts of 1898. A state of siege was declared in Milan and
General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris, entrusted with full powers, implemented
a harsh repression.
A triumphal single-span Doric arch is flanked by two squared pedestrian passageways and it is surmounted by four allegorical statues linked
to the Lombardy rivers: the Po, Ticino, Adda and Olona.
Today, the buildings separate Corso Venezia from Corso Buenos Aires.
They were restored in the early 2000s by the Associazione dei Panificatori
di Milano e Provincia, or bakers association, which opened the Casa del
Pane to promote bread and baking by providing apprentice and refresher
courses, as well as housing a library (Biblioteca del Pane e dellAlimentazione) and themed displays.
Porta Ticinese
The southern point of access to the city, the gate stands in the middle
of Piazza XXIV Maggio and is one of Milans most significant Neo-Classical
works, created by the architect Luigi Cagnola between 1801 and 1814.
Known as Porta Marengo under French rule to celebrate Napoleon
Bonapartes eponymous victory, it was given its current name in 1815
and dedicated to Peace.
Built in pink granite from Baveno a town on Lake Maggiore using
the Ionic Order as described by Vitruvius, the gate dominates the square.
Two arches open in its side walls and inside is a coffered vaulted ceiling with splendid cross ribbing. Standing independently and to its north
are two porticoed customs houses once linked by a gate with imitation
rustication render.
Major city landmarks are located around the gate: to the east, the
Darsena, Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese, with their respective towpaths, and, to the north on Corso di Porta Ticinese, the basilica of SantEustorgio, the Mediaeval Porta Ticinese, the columns of San Lorenzo and the
basilica of the same name.
Via Senato, 10
The area is now home to a few surviving stretches of wall and has
been turned into the Parco dellAnfiteatro.
The Antiquarium is a museum dedicated to the archaeologist Alda Levi
and it exhibits finds made in loco, one of the most interesting being the
stele of the gladiator Urbicus, who died at the age of just 22 in combat
during the 3rd century AD, when Milan was the capital of the Western
Roman Empire.
Parco Sempione
The Sempione Park extends over approximately 40 hectares on the
road that runs between the Duomo and the Passo del Sempione through
the Arch of Peace.
Construction commenced in 1890 to a design by Emilio Alemagna
and it subsequently housed the pavilions of the 1906 World Fair. It is a
typical English park featuring watercourses, paths and small rises such as
Monte Tordo, where the library now stands. Its numerous arboreal species
include holly, common beech, Atlas cedar, Himalayan and Californian
cedars, northern red oak, lime and a selection of maples.
Of special interest are an equestrian monument of Napoleon III by
Francesco Barzaghi and the Ponte delle Sirenette, a bridge featuring
four statues.
Corso Venezia, 55
Between 1890 and 1915, statues were introduced and the east and
west boundaries extended to include the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale,
the zoo (dismantled in the late 1980s) and the Planetarium.
Since 2002, the Gardens have been named after the journalist Indro
Montanelli (1909-2001) who appears in a statue by the sculptor Vito
Tongiani at the Piazza Cavour entrance.
Of special interest is a catalpa also known as the cigar tree for the
shape of its fruits with an imposing trunk and asymmetric foliage that
resembles a vegetable sculpture.
Inside the garden are a baroque-style fishpond, replacing the original
16th-century lake, a 17th-century aedicula containing a polychrome terracotta and stucco sculptural group featuring Mary Magdalene Assisted
by the Angels and a small Neo-Classical temple by Luigi Cagnola.
The flat race track, Trenno training track and stables are all listed under
Cultural Heritage protection.
In 1999, a large bronze horse standing more than seven metres high
was placed in the area in front of the flat race tracks secondary stands.
Produced in the USA under the supervision of the sculptress Nina Akamu,
it is based on Leonardo da Vinci drawings for an equestrian monument
dedicated to Francesco Sforza.
The terraces offer excellent views of play and the third ring commands
a fine vista over the city.
Since the 1970s it has been a venue for major concerts by leading
Italian and international artists.
Lido di Milano
The Lido di Milano was constructed to a design by the engineer Cesare
Marescotti in the mid-1920s.
The central pavilion housed a restaurant and cafe and featured a terrace and a revolving crystal/iron dance floor.
The Lido was not the envisaged success and in 1933 it was purchased
by the City of Milan which, in 1936, took over its management and shifted the focus to sporting activities. The new formula worked and the Lido
became one of the local populations favourite attractions.
It now has indoor and outdoor tennis courts, five-a-side football pitches, an open-air space for basketball, three gyms, a swimming pool with
slides and a childrens park.